managing projects is part of my job. i work in market research so ill take a project from beginning to end (with input from the account manager at key points, of course). ill write a survey, manage the data collection, analyze the data and write the report.

im not sure what you mean by degree or certification. i mean i have a degree in business economics but it really has little to do with the job.

Not MS Project Mgt. Certification or PM Certification if that is what you are asking, but most of the my career has been in the role of PM the collection, design, and clean-up of data, as well as the mgt. of those vendor for the analysis and submission of data to a regulatory body for the investigation of a clinical compound and possible approval of a drug candidate into the market.

Yes, almost straight out of grad school, I was proposing and managing research projects that ranged from $10K to $2M. No training whatsoever, except working on other people's projects and seeing how they did it (for better or worse.) And subsequently doing some things wrong and doing some things that worked better. Some training might have been a good idea.

On the other hand, I worked at a big corporation for too long, where they put "professional project managers" in charge of my projects. These guys were even more clueless than the scientists, but they added an additional 20% to the "overhead expenses." After a while, the company sent them out on the road to prevent them from doing any more damage at home. ... I mean "to network" and do "business development." I'd get calls from people at other companies and government agencies after their trips... "Who the hell WAS that guy and what was he ON?"

Yup, I manage several research projects at my work, all looking at issues related to drugs in sport. I don't have any business qualifications though I do have psychology degrees; however, most of my experience has come from working part time jobs when I was at university.

I have my PMP certification. I work in the Property & Casualty Insurance industry and my projects involve policy administration systems. Currently, I am leading a team of Business Analysts who document the business requirements for a large implementation.